Admirals coming up, up, up for IceHogs

Thursday

Jan 23, 2014 at 1:09 PMJan 23, 2014 at 1:09 PM

By Reed SchreckRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD - The Rockford IceHogs face the Milwaukee Admirals tonight.

And Saturday.

And Sunday.

It's a scheduling quirk that could help determine if the 'Hogs can remain in playoff contention. To do so, they'll have to turn around their recent fortunes in addition to finding success against a foe they've struggled a bit with to date.

Rockford (18-19-4-2) has dropped three straight one-goal outings, and stands 1-2 against the Ads this season. Not only do they need to find a productive approach against Milwaukee this weekend, but for much of the remainder of the regular season as well. The two teams will hook up in nine of Rockford's next 29 games.

First things first - this weekend's slate.

"Three games in a row against the same team, it's almost like a playoff series," said 'Hogs center Alex Broadhurst. "It will be a lot of fun, high-paced and high intensity."

Forward Brad Winchester played for the Ads last season, so he might know more about what to expect.

"They play, systems-wise, strong," he said. "They're well-coached. They have, collectively, a group of guys that works hard.

"It's division games. If you can get on a roll throughout the weekend, you can really get a lot of solid points."

How many do they hope to get? Rockford head coach Ted Dent will let them know.

"Six points on the table," he said. "We'll set a goal for the guys and try to reach a certain amount of points for the weekend and go from there.

"We can look a little closer at them than when we just play one game."